


A Peek into the Future

by INeverHadMyInternetPhase



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Future talk, M/M, Moving House, Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-31 02:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10889754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INeverHadMyInternetPhase/pseuds/INeverHadMyInternetPhase
Summary: Moving was a hassle, and not something they were keen on, but they'd been putting it off for literal years. Perhaps it was about time to get kicked into the future - and maybe that kick pushes them farther than they thought. Essentially, some mostly plotless reality fluff.





	A Peek into the Future

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mecaka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mecaka/gifts).



> Happy birthday, @mecaka (on tumblr)! I found out yesterday that it was her birthday recently, so I wrote her a fic. She wanted fluff, I hope I have delivered. Also sorry for any typos/errors, this was for my beta so I couldn’t exactly ask her to check it over for me :P

“This one?”

“Nah, too small a kitchen.”

“How would you know, you’re never _in_ the kitchen.”

“I cook,” Dan argued indignantly. “Sometimes.”

“ _Sometimes_ is right.” Phil’s voice was slightly muffled, squashed somewhere behind Dan’s elbow. He hadn’t _asked_ for Dan to come over and flop right on top of him, but that was something Dan had always done, as long as they’d known each other. It was just, Dan was so much _bigger_ now.

Phil sometimes wondered what had happened to that gawky, gangly little teenager, all elbows and knees. Not that he was unhappy with the Dan he had now.

“This one?” Dan shoved his phone screen into Phil’s face, making Phil blink. His contacts were itching he needed to go and take them out, if he could persuade Dan to get out of his lap.

He focused on the screen, squinting, and saw a fairly typical house out in the country somewhere – certainly not London – with windows and a pretty door and a gate leading into the garden.

Despite himself, Phil smiled, even as he answered rather exasperatedly, “We said _not_ a forever home, Dan.”

“I know.” Dan was pouting somewhere behind the phone screen; Phil could hear it.

“That’s most definitely a forever home.”

“But do you _like_ it?”

Phil squinted up at Dan, blinking through the dim light in their too-full lounge. Dan was curled up on his chest, twisted a little so he could hold his phone out for them both to see, but the slight tensing of his body against Phil’s told Phil everything he needed to know. He knew how much this mattered to Dan. He knew how much stability mattered.

So Phil reached out and took the phone from Dan, bringing it closer to properly examine it.

“You should take your contacts out,” Dan murmured.

“In a bit.” Phil peered again at the house on the screen – green garden, a couple of flowerbeds, a doorstep with a welcome mat. He melted a little, imagining Dan standing on that doorstep.

“It’s a good house,” he agreed. “A good forever home.”

“That’s what I thought.” Dan sounded satisfied, taking the phone back and shuffling up a bit. “Go take your contacts out.”

“In a minute.” Phil wrapped his arms around Dan, gave him a squeeze, before tucking his legs back over to the ground and shaking them to return feeling to them.

Dan curled up on the other end of their (very run down by now) sofa, legs curled up, eyes still fixed on his screen. His hair fell in his curls, the shaved sides visible that Phil liked running his fingers across. His dimple was barely visible.

“I like it,” Phil repeated, and watched the dimple deepen. “For a few years’ time.”

Dan glanced over at him, and Phil’s stomach still dropped at that warm brown gaze. There was hope hidden in there somewhere, along with the slight insecurity that even after eight years Phil hadn’t completely managed to eradicate.

He was getting there, though.

“A few years,” he reiterated, bones creaking as he got up to his feet. “You have to give me time. I’m an old man.”

“That’s what I’m worried about. Want to be in our house before you’re geriatric.” Dan grinned up at him impishly.

Phil rolled his eyes back. “I promise I’ll still be able to walk our dog and cook food for you and our children by the time we have our forever home.”

That made Dan’s eyes light up some more, his dimple reappearing even deeper. “So if we get a dog and start adopting then you’ll have to buy me a house?”

“ _In a few years_.” Phil leaned over to poke Dan’s dimple. “For now, why don’t you put yourself to some use and look for actual useful flats we could move into _now_ while I go take my contacts out.”

“You should definitely go do that,” Dan agreed, smiling up at him all warm and happy.

Phil smiled back; a reflex. Then he headed to the bathroom, leaving his contact lens pot on the tap even though he knew Dan hated it.

Sometimes he was a good significant other. Sometimes he liked to be a troll.

\---

Later, in bed, Dan rolled over to him and pushed another bright screen into Phil’s face. “This?”

“ _Dan_.” Phil mumbled into the pillow, the duvet up over his head.

“You told me to look,” Dan pointed out, like the brat he was being. But his body was warm beside Phil’s under the blankets, a good solid weight that Phil rolled into and tried to bury himself back into sleep.

“This one’s good,” Dan said indignantly, wrapping an arm around Phil and dragging him closer.

“’n’th morning,” Phil mumbled.

“You’re hopeless.” Dan slid his phone away, though, hiding it under the pillow, and settled down to hold Phil properly. Phil made a satisfied sound and cuddled closer.

Everything smelled like home – a smell that Phil hoped would transfer to wherever they ended up next. He had a feeling it would. His real home was these bedsheets and the kooky belongings and the warm solid weight of Dan against him, the shared life they’d built together over the past eight years. Five in this house.

Half a decade.

That wasn’t going to just disappear when they left, Phil knew it. There was a warm glowing weight in his heart that was never going to leave him, not as long as Dan stayed by his side. And he was fairly sure that would be forever.

“So once we have a dog, you’ll get me a house?” Dan murmured into Phil’s hair.

Phil made a noncommittal sound and pressed his face against Dan’s warm side. Sleep was tugging at the corners of his eyes, fogging up the edges of his brain, and as warm and comfortable as he was it didn’t take long for him to drift off.

The last sensation he had was Dan running fingers through his hair.

\---

After that, it didn’t take them too long to find a good flat. A duplex, not far, still in London and in an area they were familiar with. Dan walked around the viewing peering into corners and admiring the aesthetic, excitedly grabbing Phil’s hand when they got to the biggest upstairs bedroom and hissing about how he could turn it into a moon.

Phil nodded along, but he was caught up with looking at Dan in this space. It looked right. _He_ looked right, and there was something tight coiling in Phil’s chest because this was his future. Right here.

Dan looked back, smiled softly. He couldn’t do much in front of the estate agent, but he did reach out and tug on the sleeve of Phil’s jacket, just once, a move of affection.

Phil moved into his side in response.

Moving was a hassle and not one they were keen on doing, but they’d been putting it off for literal _years_. The last flat had grown too small years ago, if they were honest with themselves, but they’d allowed stuff to litter the floor, creeping into piles in the corners, encroaching slowly on their space. It only got worse after the tour. They kept everything, mostly because Dan was a sentimental fool and went all misty-eyed over every little thing they’d ever been given.

Phil appreciated them too, but not quite in the same way as Dan. To Dan, every little object _meant_ something, showed that his work really did have meaning. It was good for him, and Phil liked watching the way Dan’s dimple would deepen as he read back over letters, or glanced through photos and messages and art, his fingers fluttering carefully over the fragile paper.

Wanting to keep everything, as important as it was, did lead to more problems. Neither of them were particularly dextrous, but with the floor space rapidly decreasing, Phil tripped over about a million times more a day, and he was losing count of the number of times he’d heard a crash and a loud Dan-screech from down the hall.

They needed to move. The situation was getting desperate.

_Actually_ moving was even more stressful than either of them had planned for. It didn’t help that the only time they could move was right around the time they needed to be in Australia, and then Playlist and Phil’s family holiday (to which Dan was invited, had been for a few years) in Florida, so it was a while before they returned and could actually start settling in.

Boxes were their lives for a while. The new place came with new corners to trip over, and an entire glass wall that Phil had loved and Dan had raised both eyebrows at.

“We are both going to walk into that more times than we could count,” Dan predicted.

“I don’t care.” Phil was standing right in front of it with bright eyes, attempting to hug it. “It’s perfect.”

“It’s going to be the cause of our deaths.”

“Don’t be mean, it’s trying its best.”

Dan lifted his eyes heavenwards, but he was trying to hide his grin.

There was no more mention of dogs, or forever homes, or picture-perfect postcards shoved in Phil’s face in the early hours of the morning. This was an intermittent period, they both knew. So they set up their belongings, downstairs as a sort of reminiscence of what they’d had the past five years, the upstairs a glance towards their future. Dan got his perfect moon bedroom, and though Phil had rolled his eyes, he had to admit it looked pretty stunning when it was done.

“Told you,” Dan said rather smugly before he pulled Phil onto their new, sturdy, and thankfully non-wicker bed.

\---

Dan became slowly more secretive over the next few days.

He’d click off a tab whenever Phil needed to borrow his laptop, sit with his legs slung in Phil’s lap rather than his whole body when they were cuddling so he could hide whatever he was looking at on his screen. He stayed up later than Phil, too, lurking on his phone, at least until Phil cuddled him so hard that Dan couldn’t resist leaning into him.

“I’m busy,” he mumbled, trying to lean his head away from where Phil was insistently tucking his face into Dan’s neck.

“It’s time to sleep though,” Phil argued, tugging at Dan’s hip. “C’mere.”

“ _Busy_ ,” Dan grumbled again, but he was melting against Phil’s side.

Phil got his head resting on Dan’s shoulder, craned his neck around to try and see his phone. “What have you been so busy with?”

“Nothing.” Dan clicked out of the screen so fast Phil got no more than a flashy white blur (not that he’d get much better without his glasses on). “Just updating myself on Kanye.”

Phil groaned.

“I’ll spare you the details.” Dan’s tone was warm. A hand tangled in Phil’s hair, scratching lightly at the back of his head.

Phil melted, eyes closing. Just before sleep took him again, he mumbled, “You weren’t looking at more forever homes, were you?”

“No,” Dan answered truthfully, but his eyes were warm as he looked down at Phil sleeping against him. “At least, not yet.”

That last was whispered against Phil’s hair like a promise, and Phil was almost sure he’d imagined it.

\---

“We’re not doing anything on Friday, are we?”

Phil blinked, pulling himself out of the editing hole he’d fallen into. He glanced across their new upstairs lounge to where Dan was sprawled across the sofa (new, not quite crease-level yet, but Dan was working on it).

“Friday,” Dan repeated, glancing over from where he was tapping about on his laptop. “We’re free, right?”

“Um.” Phil blinked a little more, glancing back at his screen and then quickly away again. “I think so?”

“Good. Keep it free.” Dan was back to tapping on his laptop, trying too hard to look relaxed. His shoulders were a broad tense line, his jaw just slightly clenched.

“What are we doing on Friday, then?” Phil asked lightly. He watched the way Dan sat up a little straighter, determinedly not looking at Phil. Phil tilted his head. “Is it a surprise?”

“Yeah, a surprise, let’s go with that.” Dan’s voice cracked, just a little, the way it still did sometimes when he was nervous. Phil kind of loved that he’d never lost that, it was like a reminder of the awkward little gangly thing he’d been when they’d first met.

But it didn’t alleviate Phil’s curiosity any. It wasn’t completely unusual for Dan to surprise him, he tended to like romantic gestures more than Phil, but more than anything Dan liked being spoiled _by_ Phil. As such, it had become one of Phil’s favourite things to take Dan out to a sky bar or a fancy restaurant or even something simple as buying him a new plushie. For Dan to surprise Phil, though – that was still a little rarer.

But from the way Dan’s eyes had creased and his shoulders had tensed, Phil knew he wouldn’t be getting it out of him any time soon.

“Will you at least give me a clue?” Phil wheedled, all editing abandoned.

Dan shot him a look. “No, and don’t make those eyes at me.”

“Please? I just need to know if I should, like, dress up.”

“You never dress up, you have no fashion sense,” Dan snorted, and then turned his face deliberately into the sofa cushions so he couldn’t see Phil’s pleading expression. “No, no, that shit’s not working on me today, go back to editing.”

“ _Pleeeeeease_ ,” Phil whined, because sometimes Dan really couldn’t resist him.

All it earned him was a grumble, so with a theatrical sigh he went back to editing. It didn’t take him long to get lost back in the familiar click-and-drag of perfecting his videos, working to slide in his new favourite effect (still fireworks, he hadn’t told Dan yet because he was saving up the exasperated but fond eye-roll that would earn him).

Minutes, or hours, later, there was a stir from the sofa as Dan got to his feet. On his way out of the room, he paused to drop a kiss to Phil’s head and murmured, “You don’t have to dress up.”

Phil watched him out of the room with a curious smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

\---

Friday rolled around and Phil hadn’t forgotten about the ‘surprise’, but he’d kind of placed it on the backburner of his mind. His new video was up, and doing fairly well, and Dan had been sucked in a gaming video editing hole for the past day or so (he refused to let Phil upload it until he’d been over every single second, utter perfectionist that he was).

So when Phil woke up on Friday morning to find Dan leaning over him with wide eyes, he could be forgiven for being a little taken off guard.

“ _Finally_.” Dan had a hand splayed flat on Phil’s chest, his other arm on the bed, bracing himself up over Phil’s body.

This was unusual. Dan was normally asleep until he absolutely _had_ to be dragged awake.

Phil blinked up at him kind of owlishly, everything still blurry. “Huh?”

“We should get going soon.” Dan hovered over him for a minute longer, searching Phil’s face, expression giving away nothing.

Phil held in a groan. Curiosity was starting to curl through him again, the beginnings curling around him almost as insistently as his hands were tugging at Dan to come cuddle again. “Do I get a clue yet?”

Dan hid his smile in Phil’s shoulder, giving in to his urging and folding his body carefully down against Phil’s until they were pressed together again, like they always should be. “One clue.”

“Just one?”

“For now.” Dan pressed a kiss to the crook of his neck. “Wear clothes you don’t mind getting a bit dirty.”

Phil blinked. “…You’re not taking me through a swamp?”

“No, fuck off, what do you take me for?” Dan huffed.

Phil squinted at him suspiciously, but Dan refused to say more. He squeezed Phil against him, head buried in Phil’s shoulder, and let Phil cuddle him for a while. Phil tangled a hand in Dan’s hair and smiled despite himself, enjoying the warmth and softness and feeling of home in their new home.

He’d been right. The sensation of _home_ had carried across from their old place. Sometimes he still woke up and flailed for a moment, fear gripping him that _he wasn’t somewhere he knew_ , but all he had to do was grope across the bed for Dan and he knew he was at home. (Or, more likely, Dan had somehow grappled his way on top of Phil in the night, and then Phil was without a doubt where he was).

After a few moments of holding Dan close, Dan started wriggling against him. Phil made a disgruntled sound and clutched tighter.

“No, you’re not allowed to do that.” Dan put up a bit of a fight, wriggling until Phil finally released him with an even longer groan.

Dan rolled his eyes at him, but he was smiling enough for his dimple to appear. Phil reached out to poke it.

Dan made a face at him and reared back, clambering over the side of the bed (and almost falling over in the process). “Come on. I promise you’ll like today.”

“No more clues _at all_?” Phil asked again, sitting up with a groan and reaching for his glasses.

Dan shook his head determinedly. His hair was all ruffled curls, peeping out the top of the black jumper he was determinedly tugging down over his face. He emerged with a loud, “woah,” and then turned to send Phil a grin – the kind that still made Phil’s stomach flip over.

Eight years, and he’d never got past the butterfly stage.

“I’ve told you you’ll like it, that’s all you need to know,” Dan said loftily, and then stalked out of the room before Phil could badger him anymore.

\---

The itch to hold Dan’s hand in public was still a prevalent one, but over the years Phil had learned self-control. Besides, they had their own ways of showing affection when they were out and about. So, squashed on the tube, Dan’s hand was on the small of Phil’s back, and Phil’s ankle was hooked around Dan’s. Tiny gestures, but they both knew exactly what they meant.

They got off at a stop Phil hadn’t been to too often before, the streets just a little unfamiliar. But they were pleasantly lined with trees, the smell of spring high on the air, and the air just warm enough to be pleasant. Dan was starting to fidget by Phil’s side, nervous energy causing him to bounce on the balls of his feet, tuck his fingers insistently around Phil’s elbow and all but drag him across the road.

Phil’s curiosity was unfurling further with every step. He still didn’t know what Dan had planned, and he was getting no further clues from their surroundings, but Dan’s continuing insistent tugs were sign enough that they were getting close.

“Do I get any more clues yet?” Phil asked as he was tugged along a street.

Dan smirked at him. Insufferably. “You haven’t guessed yet?”

“You haven’t exactly given me much to go on!” Phil was completely lost. His sense of direction was terrible at the best of times, but he’d been disoriented ever since they got off the tube and he had never quite recovered his bearings.

Dan just leaned in closer – this street was quiet, but no that quiet, so all he could do was grip Phil’s elbow and steer him ever onward. “You’ll see very soon.”

“Unhelpful,” Phil grumbled, but he let himself be led easily enough.

They rounded a corner, and Phil stopped short at the sight that greeted him.

An animal shelter. Set back a little from the road, with a gated entrance and a welcoming set of doors, paw prints littering the walls, grass neatly trimmed. Phil blinked at it. There was a refreshing natural smell, a kind of serene surroundings different from the usual hustle of London, even though they hadn’t left the city centre.

“We’re going over there,” Dan explained, and pointed towards one of the side-entrances.

The sign over the top said _Dog Rehoming Shelter_.

Phil’s heart melted a bit. He bit his lip, staring for long enough for the words to imprint in his brain, sizzling into his synapses and painting a beautiful picture that he wasn’t quite ready for yet.

“ _Dan_ ,” Phil murmured, and it was almost a rebuke.

“I know we said not yet,” Dan rushed to placate him. “I know we said a few years, that this is a stop-gap, but I just – I can’t get it out of my mind.”

Phil tore his eyes away from the sign to look at Dan instead, noticing the slight distressed crease that had appeared in his brow. His heart was absolutely melting.

“It’s the thought of you, with a dog,” Dan mumbled, looking for all the world like a toddler who’d been caught with his hand in the sweet jar. “And this one has _corgis_.”

Phil raised one brow and tried to ignore the way his heart was trying to do backflips. “No shibes?”

“No, you’ve been so hung up on corgis for ages.” Dan bit his lip, still looking a little chagrined. “Well, ok, maybe there’s a shibe-corgi cross here, but still—”

“ _Dan_.” This time Phil said it with a small laugh, and reached out to pull Dan into his arms. A risky move, on the street, but by the shelter’s gate there weren’t many people around, and none of them were looking their way.

Dan mumbled something into Phil’s shoulder. Phil squeezed him tight and then stepped back. “What was that?”

“I said, there’s no harm in looking, right?” Dan shuffled his feet, still standing in Phil’s space. “For the future. And you said you’d buy me a forever home if we found a dog.”

Phil snorted. He vaguely remembered a conversation like that – when he’d been half-asleep and Dan had been mumbling something in his soft, adorable voice that Phil preferred cooing over without actually _listening_ to what he was saying.

“Well, I found us a dog.” Dan lifted his chin, looked determinedly at Phil.

Phil shook his head at him, but a fond smile was tugging at his lips. “You do know we can’t _actually_ just ditch the new flat and find a house right now, right?”

“I know,” Dan said indignantly, “Obviously.”

Phil arched a brow.

“I _do_ ,” Dan insisted. “I just – this dog is a next step. And wait until you meet him.”

Phil huffed. “Have you been secretly dog-hunting without me?”

“Only online.” Dan tugged at Phil’s arm, leading him towards the gate. “But I found the perfect one. You have to come meet him.”

“So _that’s_ what you’ve been hiding this whole time.” Phil paused at the gate, hand hovering over the latch. He glanced over at Dan with a soft look, and melted a little more at the grin Dan sent back to him.

“I was just finding us the perfect life companion,” Dan promised, lips pressed together to try and hide his smile. His dimple was popping. Phil itched to poke it.

“Well, then.” Phil turned to the gate and lifted the latch. “I’d better go meet him.”

\---

Getting through the shelter was difficult enough, because Phil stopped every few steps to coo over the new dogs all wagging their tails at him. The person showing them around was thankfully very patient, a kind middle-aged woman with a red polo shirt and blonde hair in a messy bun, explaining all the breeds as they walked.

Dan seemed to have done his research well, as he also whispered things into Phil’s ear, more facts like _that one looks soft but its temperament isn’t so good_ and _the spaniel is adorable and friendly, I nearly went for that one if it wasn’t all the walking it needed and neither of us go outside enough for that_.

Phil listened, but his attention was mostly caught on all the big brown eyes and fluffy fur looking up at him. (Including Dan).

The shibe-corgi cross was curled up in a corner, her golden fur fluffed up and adorable. Phil squeaked and strode over, but she simply sent him an unimpressed stare and then laid back down again.

Dan chuckled, reaching out to lead Phil back. “I secretly ruled out that one,” he whispered into Phil’s ear on the way back to their guide. “Not the best temperament. She kind of hates people, which, relatable, but I kind of want a dog that wants to cuddle me.”

It was towards the end of a corridor that their guide paused, glancing back towards them. “It was Roger you wanted to look at specifically, wasn’t it?”

Phil blinked.

“Yes,” Dan answered quickly, grip tightening on Phil’s elbow. “Is he here?”

“Just up this way,” the guide answered with a smile, and led them on.

Phil leaned into Dan’s side. “Roger? Who names a dog _Roger_?”

“It’s hilarious when they have human names,” Dan argued with a straight face. “Like Colin, at my parents’.”

“Colin is adorable,” Phil agreed, thinking back to the photo of Dan snuggling him that currently resided on their bedroom shelf.

“Well, I think you’re going to like Roger even more.”

They turned a corner, and the guide pointed to the side. “There he is. He’s just had a feed, so he might be a little sleepy.”

“Same,” Dan said, causing the guide to chuckle. But Dan’s attention was all on Phil, staring with wide eyes to gauge his reaction.

Phil stood transfixed. Roger was, apparently, a corgi, tiny legs and long body and tail that wagged a little as he looked back at Phil. His ears perked up, mostly golden with a bit of white fluff, and his back was totally golden with a little white marking around his muzzle. As Phil stared at him, his mouth opened and he looked exactly like he was smiling.

Oh, Phil was melting. This was _dangerous_ , what had Dan _done_.

“Do you want to go and play with him?” The guide asked with a knowing smile.

Dan glanced over. “Phil?”

Mutely, Phil nodded, and he could _feel_ Dan’s smug smile. He’d done this on purpose. Oh, Phil was going to make him pay.

They were let into the kennel, stooping a bit, and the moment Phil approached Roger leapt up to his feet. His tail was high in the air, wagging, and his mouth was still open in that little corgi smile that Phil had been cooing over in pictures for months.

“Oh, look at you,” Phil murmured, and crouched. Roger pattered his way over, tail still high, and gave Phil a sniff. Phil held completely still, and then Roger’s tongue lolled out and he seemed to relax.

“Try petting his back,” the guide advised.

Phil moved carefully, but Roger seemed perfectly at ease, so he carefully placed his palm against the soft fur on Roger’s back. It was golden, smooth and soft under his fingers, and he was absolutely _melting_.

Roger gave a wiggle, then leaned back. Phil instantly worried that he’d done something wrong, but Roger simply bowed his head and lifted his tail, wagging it enthusiastically.

“That means he wants his ball.” The guide handed something to Dan, but Phil was too busy cooing. Roger was doing that corgi-smile thing again and Phil’s chest was painfully constricted at this point.

“Hey, what do you think, little guy?” Dan crouched down beside Phil and offered the ball in the palm of his hand. “Want to play?”

Roger immediately turned his attention onto Dan, tail wagging increasing in its intensity.

“So fickle,” Phil murmured, but he edged back enough and watched as Dan rolled the ball, and Roger scrambled to get it before bringing it right back over.

And if Phil’s chest had constricted painfully before, it was now at dangerous levels.

Watching Dan with a dog had him crumbling. Dan’s face softened, his eyes warm and gentle as he watched Roger bouncing about after the ball, the curls pushed back from his face, his freckles scattered about and his dimple the deepest it could ever get.

He looked so _happy_ , so content, and Phil knew he was looking at his entire world just then.

And their future. Their _future_ , and they couldn’t do this _now_ , why was Dan doing this to him.

“Do you like him?” Dan asked quietly, batting the ball back to Roger.

“Stupid question,” Phil mumbled back, and his voice was thick with emotion that he tried his best to hide. The guide was here, after all. He had to stay in his public place zone.

Dan seemed to catch on – he was the only one who possibly could. He looked over from petting Roger and gave a wild smile, reaching out to lay his hand on Phil’s thigh. “I told you. I told you we had to see him.”

Phil both loved and hated him in that moment.

\---

They played with Roger for as long as they were allowed, but then he started to get sleepy and the guide informed them that he needed a break. Walking away from the kennel was one of the hardest things to do, and Phil kept twisting around to glance back and watch Roger as he curled up in his basket, tail tucked in perfectly behind his back.

Dan was basking when they got back outside. Phil glared at his obviously smug face, the smile that threatened to burst across his lips at any given moment. “You did that deliberately!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dan answered, but his lips were twitching.

Phil shook his head. They strode back along the street, not quite hand-in-hand but close enough to be leaning in each other’s space, through the spring sunshine that almost dared to be warm.

“We can’t have him yet,” Phil reiterated. “Still renting. Landlord would disapprove.”

“We could talk to the landlord,” Dan answered immediately.

“We could, but there’s still no guarantee.”

“No, but it’s still just a stop-gap.” Dan turned a look on Phil that was bordering on excitement. “A stop-gap before our forever home.”

Phil glanced back, pausing for a moment in the middle of the street.

A forever home.

A forever home, with Dan, with a little dog like Roger pattering about their feet, together surrounded by the things they loved, in their perfect little life.

Somehow, that was actually his future.

Phil felt himself grinning without permission, and he gave Dan a nod. “Exactly. It’ll happen. Our forever home, it will happen.”

Dan absolutely beamed back. His dimple was prime poking position.

They walked back through the street, back to the station, and it wasn’t until they were pressed together on the crowded tube that Dan leaned back in to murmur in Phil’s ear.

“You did promise to find a forever home once I found us a dog.”

“Well then,” Phil murmured back, “I’d better start looking.”

_Note: I have never been to a dog rehoming place so sorry for inaccuracies. I also don’t know too much about dog breeds. Please suspend your disbelief and I hope you enjoyed ^_^_

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on tumblr, I'm at @ineverhadmyinternetphase ^_^


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